State Vet Lab looking into Casey cattle deaths

The State Veterinary Lab at Iowa State University is looking into the death of 150 cattle found Sunday morning at the Doug Wedemeyer feedlot, south of Casey, in western Iowa’s Adair County.

Iowa Department of Public Safety Spokesman Jim Saunders says the agent on the case is having the lab evaluate soil samples from the area where the cattle were found.He says they’ve looked at the animals’ feed and determined it wasn’t rotted or bad grain. Now they’ll look for any other aspects, to see what exactly the cattle ate, where it came from, and whether the incident could have been accidental or intentional somehow.

The agent’s told Saunders he’ll need a couple more days to narrow that down. A feedlot worker found the 300 the cattle in that pen sickened, apparently by something in their feed, around 11 Sunday morning. Wedemeyer says all the animals were affected, but they managed to treat about half of them and save their lives.

Despite rumors that a fired or disgruntled feedlot employee may have played a role in the animal’s deaths, Saunders says to his knowledge, there are no suspects under investigation. Saunders says the investigation still isn’t at the point where they can say whether there was an intentional act, so there’s no suspect at this point. Wedemeyer says he had no idea why anyone would want to harm his cattle.